


Dues Paid

by heyjupiter



Category: Agent Carter (TV), X-Men: First Class (2011) - Fandom
Genre: Crossover, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-11-29
Updated: 2015-11-29
Packaged: 2018-05-04 01:39:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,188
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5315408
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heyjupiter/pseuds/heyjupiter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>CIA Agent Moira MacTaggert and SHIELD Director Peggy Carter both have some questions about Charles Xavier. Perhaps the two women can help each other get answers.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Dues Paid

**Author's Note:**

  * For [professor](https://archiveofourown.org/users/professor/gifts).



> Thanks to likeadeuce for beta reading!

Moira walked into work one morning and found that her desk was occupied. A stylish middle-aged woman was sitting in her chair, flipping through a file. She looked up at Moira and said, with a crisp British accent, "Ah, Agent MacTaggert, you're early. I thought you might be."

"You're in my desk," Moira said, and then immediately felt stupid. She wondered if she could pull off the red lipstick the stranger wore.

The woman smiled. "Yes, but if I have my way, it won't be your desk for much longer."

"You want my job?"

"No, no, I want to offer you a job."

"I like my job," Moira said weakly, not bothering to point out that she wasn't interested in leaving the US to work for MI6 or whatever European agency this woman worked for.

The woman snorted. "Oh? You like doing the grunt work while that idiot supervisor of yours takes the credit?"

Moira did not, in fact, like that, but she knew there were ears and eyes all around her office. She said stiffly, "I'm paying my dues."

"From where I'm sitting, you've more than paid your dues. If you were a man, you'd already be head of your own division."

Moira pressed her lips together. "What division do you work for? What's this about?"

"My name is Peggy Carter. I'm the director of the Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division, and I'd like for you to work with us."

"The Strategic Homeland Intervention, Enforcement and Logistics Division?" Moira repeated with a frown. "I haven't heard of that."

"We usually just call it SHIELD."

"I see. And what does SHIELD do?" Moira asked, trying to remember if she'd ever heard anything about SHIELD. The name doesn't ring a bell, even though she was extremely well-informed on international espionage. She was still standing in front of her own desk. 

"SHIELD protects people," Peggy said simply. 

"Which people?"

"The ones who need it."

"And what kind of job are you offering me?"

"The kind of work you're meant to be doing, Agent MacTaggert," Peggy said kindly. "You'd be back in the field. No more transcribing tapes or other secretarial work."

"I see," Moira said.

"Does that interest you?" Peggy asked.

"Perhaps."

Peggy smiled. "I just have one other question for you. What do you know about Charles Xavier?" she asked.

Moira fought to keep her face from expressing her disappointment. She should have known better than to get her hopes up. "I'm sorry, I don't know anything about Charles Xavier."

Peggy nodded. If she was disappointed, her face didn't know it either. "Yes, I read about your memory loss. I suppose I was hoping it was temporary, or… perhaps conditional."

Moira said, "You hoped I'd tell you things I wouldn't tell my own supervisor?"

"Well, yes, honestly," Peggy said. "But no matter. At SHIELD, we have some other resources available to us."

"Do you want my skills or do you want my memories?"

"Both, of course," Peggy replied matter of factly. "But I'll happily take the former if that's all I can have. Although SHIELD may have the resources to restore your memories."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm afraid that's confidential, at the moment," Peggy replied.

Moira fought to keep her hopes low. This was probably all just some kind of trick, anyway. She asked, "What do you want with Charles Xavier anyway?" It had been a few years since anyone had asked her about him. In 1962, after she'd shocked her former partner by going undercover in her lingerie while on assignment in Las Vegas, she'd gone off the radar for days. She didn't remember anything that happened during those missing days.

After she'd returned to DC, she'd been questioned by countless CIA agents, military officials, and doctors, but was unable to remember anything solid about what she'd done. There had been threats of disciplinary action before she was finally able to convince everyone that her memory loss was genuine. She'd kept her job, but she'd lost much of the credibility she had worked so hard to earn. 

"We want to know what he's up to," Peggy said. "He had been operating a school for mutants, but now it's closed down, and we want to know why."

"Well, why don't you ask _him_?" Moira asked. She knew about the school. Even though she couldn't remember ever meeting Charles Xavier, after being associated so heavily with him, she'd made it a point to keep tabs on him, despite his school being outside of her purview.

Peggy fixed her with a withering glare. "That kind of brilliant idea is exactly why we want you for SHIELD, Agent MacTaggert."

"What are you going to do to him?"

Peggy flinched. "We're not going to do anything _to_ him. We'd like to work with him. We have a special interest in those with... special abilities. You worked with him once before, and we think he might appreciate you as a liaison." She left a card on Moira's desk and said, "I can't discuss it further here. Call me to set up a meeting if you're interested, whether or not you'd be able to help with Xavier. I mean it."

Peggy stood up from Moira's desk and left the room, her heels clicking. Her supervisor, Agent Clark, waited five seconds before barging into Moira's office. "Agent MacTaggert, you know you're not allowed to have personal visitors at work."

"Director Carter's visit wasn't personal. It was professional. And I'm not even officially on the clock yet," Moira said. When she wasn't in the field, she made a point of always arriving early and leaving late to work.

Agent Clark's eyes narrowed slightly at the word "director," but he said, "Rules are rules, Agent MacTaggert, and this infraction will be noted on your record."

Moira took a deep breath. "Fine," she said, trying not to think of all the other bullshit infractions that were already on her personnel file.

"Now, you'd better get to work. You've got plenty of tapes to transcribe, and Agent North will be delivering more soon."

Moira looked at the pile of busy work awaiting her. She looked at Director Carter's business card. And she said, "You know what? No, I don't. I quit."

Agent Clark laughed. "You know, these kinds of emotional outbursts aren't really appropriate at the CIA. Keep it up and you'll end up back in the typing pool."

Moira pulled out a piece of notebook paper and wrote, "I quit, effective immediately." She signed and dated it and handed it to Agent Clark. She had no personal effects at her desk, so she collected her coat and purse and left.

Behind her, Agent Clark said, "Is this your way of telling me you're pregnant? I thought your husband was dead. Are you seriously leaving? You'll need to be debriefed. This is extremely unprofessional."

"I'm sure the CIA will be able to find me."

Moira picked up her pace to a sprint and found Peggy in the parking garage. "Is that job offer still open?" she asked, panting.

Peggy smiled. "I thought you'd never ask."


End file.
